er the
same man again, and shortly after his return to Natal he sold off his
waggons and went back to Scotland. Being young and strong I soon
recovered from my privation."

"Lions are very abundant in some parts of the interior, are they not,
Mr Harvey?" one of the officers asked, after they had thanked the
trader for his story.

"Extraordinarily so," Mr Harvey replied; "in fact it has long been a
puzzle among us how such vast quantities could find food--in no other
country in the world could they do so; but here the abundance of deer is
so great that the lions are able to kill vast numbers, without making
any great impression upon them."

"But I should not have thought," an officer said, "that a lion could run
down a deer!"

"He cannot," Mr Harvey said, "except for short distances. The South
African lion is a lighter and more active beast than the northern lion,
and can for the first hundred yards run with prodigious swiftness,
taking long bounds like a cat. Stealing through the long grass, and
keeping to leeward of the herd, he will crawl up to within a short
distance unperceived, and then with half a dozen tremendous bounds he is
among them before they have fairly time to get up their full speed.
They hunt too in regular packs; twenty or thirty of them will surround a
herd, and, gradually lessening their circle, close upon their affrighted
prey, who stand paralysed with fear until the lions are fairly among
them.

"I was once surrounded by them, and had a very narrow escape of my life.
I had left my waggons at a large native village, and had ridden--
accompanied only by my native servant--some fifty miles across the
country to another tribe, to see whether they had lately been visited by
any traders, and whether they had goods to dispose of. I reached the
kraal in the morning, and the palaver with the chief as usual wasted the
best part of the day; it was nearly dark when I started, but I was
accustomed to ride by the light of the stars, and had no fear of missing
my way. I had been only two hours on the road, when the sky became
overcast, and half an hour later a tremendous storm burst. Having now
no index for directing my way I found that it was useless to proceed;
the plain was open, but I knew that a goodsized river ran a short
distance to the north, so I turned my horse's head in that direction,
knowing that on a river-bank I was likely to meet with trees. Several
times I missed my way in the drivi